Risk and reliability analysis of the effect of underwater noise pollution towards marine animals

Abstract

Underwater sound is important for the underwater creatures. It is useful for the navigation, food finding, mating, and also predator detection. The natural phenomenons in the marine environment that produce noise include waves, wind, surf, lightning, precipitation, animals’ sound and also the earthquakes. The frequency of the natural sound was usually below 100 Hz, but rain and waves sounds dominate higher frequencies. However, some human activities can cause the underwater noise pollution such as the sound produced by the ships, sonar, pile driving, dredging, oil and gas explorations and also military activities. The effect of man-made noise is a main threat to marine animals. Fish, in particular, was less attractive with the noisy environments and avoid areas where man-made noise levels are high.The presence of noise also could keep fish changes their way, behavior and reproduction. Our analysis has determined the cause, occurrence and the effect of the underwater noise pollution in the ocean towards marine animals. The overview from the results shows that shipping operation got the higher risk based on the evaluation of risk matrix rating which the identified risks are come from the high speed of the ships and sound emitted from the engine vibration in the hull of ships. Preliminary calculation involving the energy budget per year for anthropogenic noise shows that Underwater Noise Explosion emits higher energy per year which is 2.1 x 1015 J.